Qubic hacks Monero: What impact successful 51% attack could have

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Mikhail Vnuchkov

18.08.2025

Qubic hacks Monero: What impact successful 51% attack could have — Still, it’s unlikely that Qubic’s 51% attack will spell the end of Monero

After several months of attempts, blockchain company Qubic announced that it had gained control over the majority of Monero’s computational power. But how did they achieve this, and what was the point of their endeavor?

How Qubic did it

Monero (XMR) was launched in 2014 and quickly earned the reputation of being the “dark money of the internet.” Unlike Bitcoin, where every transaction is visible on the blockchain, Monero hides them carefully. This is achieved through ring signatures, while transaction amounts are encrypted using RingCT.

Because of these features, Monero became the coin of choice for freedom-loving crypto users seeking to avoid government surveillance. However, criminals also took a liking to it, actively using it on darknet markets, for money laundering schemes, and even for ransom payments.

It is precisely due to this controversial reputation that blockchain specialists from Qubic became interested in the cryptocurrency. They had repeatedly declared their intention to “break through” Monero’s network.

The first attempts began in May 2025, when Qubic started redirecting its computing power toward Monero mining. At that time, they captured just 2% of Monero’s hashrate, but by the end of July their share had surpassed 25%, and by the end of summer they managed to achieve their goal.On August 15, the company posted on X (Twitter) that they had crossed the 51% threshold and carried out a six-block chain reorganization.

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“During Epoch 173 we reached over 51% of Monero’s total hashrate and earned over $240,000 in mining rewards,” the company wrote. Ledger estimated the attack cost at $75 million per day.

The Qubic team emphasized that the 51% attack on Monero was conducted as an experiment to showcase the efficiency of their useful proof-ofwork (uPoW) model. It was not a malicious sabotage but rather a demonstrational “stress test” of decentralization and blockchain security.

Community reaction

Unsurprisingly, this event generated a lot of controversy among crypto enthusiasts. Qubic’s post about the successful “breakthrough” alone gathered 22,000 views, while Cointelegraph’s report received 406,000.

Yet not everyone was convinced Qubic truly held majority control over the network. Under Cointelegraph’s post, a community note says that Qubic likely controlled between 28% and 35% of the hashrate by using a selfish mining strategy.

Riccardo Spagni (Fluffypony), former Monero lead maintainer, suggested the claims might have been exaggerated for publicity. Luke Parker (SeraiDEX) noted that a six-block reorganization does not always mean a definitive 51% attack — short reorgs can occur naturally, though in this case the scale looked suspicious.

However, skepticism from individuals didn’t change the overall market sentiment. After the news broke, the price of XMR began to fall. Within just one week, the coin’s value dropped nearly 16%, reflecting shaken investor confidence. At the same time, trading volumes surged as some holders rushed to exit positions, fearing prolonged instability.

The market’s reaction is understandable: many investors have been burned by similar attacks in the past. Among the most notorious examples:Ethereum Classic, devastated by multiple attacks in 2019, Bitcoin Gold, which lost millions in 2018 and again in 2020, Verge and Vertcoin, which also failed to withstand attackers.

Monero at a crossroads

Despite the drama and heated discussions, it’s unlikely that Qubic’s 51% attack will spell the end of Monero. But it won’t be enough to simply wait out the storm either. Especially considering that the popular crypto exchange Kraken suspended Monero deposits, well-known commentator Tone Vays said in his Cryptoscam podcast that trust in XMR has drastically declined compared to its 2017 peak.

And one mustn’t forget: such attacks play into the hands of governments. Many regulators are unhappy with Monero’s “invisibility.” If trust in its security is undermined, it becomes a convenient argument for pressure: private coins are not only used by criminals, but also fail to guarantee real protection for ordinary users.

Most likely, Monero’s developers will need to change the mining algorithm and seek new security measures. This is feasible, given that the Monero community has already changed its PoW algorithm several times to resist ASIC centralization. It’s logical to assume another fork or PoW modification will soon be on the table, aimed at complicating life for large pools.

Moreover, based on past experience, the only real way to withstand centralization is for miners to unite in independent pools. In the coming months, new initiatives to coordinate hashrate distribution are likely to emerge to prevent a repeat attack.In other words, Monero now faces two paths: either it emerges from this crisis stronger, proving its resilience and remaining a symbol of privacy,or it gradually loses ground, yielding to new technologies or even centralized solutions. But history shows that such large and popular projects rarely go down without a fight.

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